Texas nurse who contracted Ebola understood risks

DALLAS - A family friend of the Texas nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for an infected Liberian man says she understood the risks and tried to reassure her family that she would be safe.

Christina Tran says that Nina Pham told her mother not to worry.

But the 26-year-old Pham became the first person to contract the disease within the U.S., despite wearing protective gear that included gowns, gloves, masks and face shields while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan.

Duncan died Wednesday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

Tran says Pham's parents are praying for their daughter's recovery.

The Rev. Jim Khoi is pastor at the Pham's church, Our Lady of Fatima in Fort Worth. He says Pham was in good spirits when talking to her mother via video chat.